HEALTH
Snake sightings rise
There were 13 reports of snake sightings in Taipei on Wednesday and Thursday last week, and in nine instances the snakes were caught, the Taipei City Fire Department said on Sunday. The department said it received 10 reports on Wednesday and three the following day. Following up on the reports, the fire department said, it caught nine snakes, including a 2m-long big-eyed rat snake in Tianmu (天母) and Taiwan habu vipers, turtle-designed snakes and red-banded snakes in Nangang (南港) and Beitou (北投) districts. Snakes that have been in hibernation regain energy and look for food during spring and summer, the department said. They will attack people only if they feel threatened, it said. Anyone who spots a snake should contact the fire department immediately.
SOCIETY
Car falls into sea, kills three
It was a night of tragedy for a family of four when their car went off the road and fell into the sea in Anping Harbor (安平港), Greater Tainan, on Sunday, killing three passengers and leaving the other seriously injured. The 37-year-old driver, surnamed Wu (吳), was cruising the harbor with his wife and two sons, aged eight and 10, when the car veered off the road and fell into the sea, a witness said. The witness reported the crash to firefighters who pulled the four from the water and sent them to three different hospitals. Wu and his two sons were pronounced dead, while his wife, surnamed Huang (黃), was still in a coma in an intensive care unit as of noon on Sunday, hospital staff said. Wu’s mother said she believed he was exhausted from late-night driving and that had caused the accident. Prosecutors will investigate the cause of the crash, the Tainan coast guard said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it